James Purtill spent a weekend in the Bylong Valley north of Sydney, to interview land-holders about a proposed coal mine. He found that before the first meadow had been stripped, or even before a mining licence had been granted, the process of mineral exploration and land acquisition had disrupted a settled community. The fate of Bylong and its inhabitants was dramatically changed, the day the company came to the valley. The temptation of big mining dollars and the spectre of living next to an open-cut pit had broken friendships and seen many farmers move to new pastures.
Most of the farmers who opposed the mine had never thought of themselves as greenies, environmentalists or political activists, but they soon found themselves cast into unfamiliar roles as agitators, almost powerless to control what happened on their land. This is the story of five people who found themselves thrown together in their fight to stop the mine; their futures joined; knowing they would stand together, or fall.
It is also the story of a father who realised he would have to choose between the land he loved, and his own family. It is about the conversations that take place far from the barricades, and beyond the rhetoric of ‘greens’ versus ‘miners’; decisions that are made out of sight, behind the walls of the family home.
Produced by Heidi Pett and James Purtill
Music – Choy Lin by Fishing